Shovel

Did the Tuesday night cross training ride last night. Dan, Nate and Scott came along. It was fun for me because I was riding a fancy new Slingshot DDX. I ended up getting the bike that Slingshot built for Interbike; that is to say, it is pretty fancy. It is far fancier than I would have guessed my first cross bike would be, but the price was right and I have waited a long time to make this purchase. How fancy is it? Well, there is Dura-ace here, fancy carbon there, and some fancy green tires thrown in for good measure.

I still need to make a few adjustments to the bike, but for a first ride last night went well. There was one incident that confirmed that this was the bike for me. We were flying down a piece of two-track that was downhill and slightly off-camber. At the bottom of the hill was a sharp right-hand turn. I entered the turn way too fast, and was sure I was about to visit the bottom of the ravine off to my left. I closed my eyes, leaned to the right, and the bike just screamed through the corner! I was shocked to still be upright, and Dan commented that he thought for sure I wouldn't make the turn. Yes, that bike is gonna work out just fine...

In spite of the cool new bike, I was not as fast as I would have liked. Today, I think I figured out why. I have a bit of a cold; stuffy nose, sore throat, headache and a bit run down. Becky had it last week, and Dan mentioned that he wasn't feeling great either. This sucks, since I am supposed to be racing this Sunday. Scratch that; I WILL be racing this Sunday. It just might not be as much fun as it should be. I will be staying home from work and resting up tomorrow.

More good news: I got the first CAD drawing of my Quiring 29er today! The bike looks great; the geometry looks alot like a Niner One 9. I had a few questions for Scott, but I think we are on target.